TSA Fails to Detect Box Cutters

Helen Whalen Cohen

3/11/2011 11:30:00 AM - Helen Whalen Cohen

We're a little late getting to this story, but here it is: TSA's pat downs and naked scans didn't stop a passenger from getting on a plane with box cutters. From the New York Examiner:

The incident happened at around 10 p.m. The passenger carrying the box cutters, Eusebio D. Peraltalajara, later told authorities that he used the tools on the job at the Secaucus manufacturing plant where he works. He explained that he had simply forgotten they were in his luggage and was released without any charges brought. The presence of the tools became apparent after Peraltalajara had boarded Flight 837, bound for Santiago. As he was stuffing one of his bags into the overheard compartment, the cutters fell out.

A TSA spokesman was quick to point out all the uselessness new security measures they have implemented, like the "possible presence of armed federal air marshals" and "flight crews trained in self defense". She also pointed to a more vigilant traveling public, which they apparently can somehow take credit for now.

Nice job, Hot Air, for pointing out how frequently these type of incidents still occur, like when a mentally unstable subject of an ongoing FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation gets on a plane. Twice. Hot Air notes what a government spokesman had to say about the passenger, which is worth repeating here:

This guy has exposed serious flaws in passenger security in at least two cities.

Update: Here's how we can solve problems with airport security-let's unionize the TSA. Genius!

And, surprise, after a pro-forma "assessment" of the implications, Mr. Pistole last month gave the green light for this week's vote. Or, as South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint says, President Obama is finally making good on a "political kickback to the union bosses who poured money into his campaign in 2010 and who he desperately needs to win re-election in 2012." Whatever union is now chosen to bargain for TSA workers—either Mr. Gage's American Federation of Government Employees, or the National Treasury Employees Union—will have the power to begin transforming the agency into one that puts union priorities first, security second.

Mr. Pistole is insisting that he won't bargain over security policies, pay and benefits, qualifications or disciplinary measures. But some of this is fuzzy, and there's plenty for the union to be getting on with, including union rules on shifts, hours and transfers. This will stymie or delay the TSA's ability to quickly move workers to heightened security risks, to institute new procedures, or to keep terrorists guessing. Aviation experts like Michael Boyd of Boyd International have warned the TSA is already a "60,000 member DMV from Hell."

Mr. Gage, meanwhile, in a pitch video designed to get screeners to choose his union, let it be known that no issue would be too trivial for the AFGE to bargain over, including "leave restriction, parking subsidies, uniforms—all the frustrations that TSOs have had to endure." He also assured screeners that an army of attorneys is standing by on their behalf: "more attorneys than any union, federal or private."